Many modern devices allow a user to touch a screen as a way of providing a user-input. A touch-based input or a touch-based gesture is a manner of providing a user input by touching a touch-sensitive device. Any device capable of accepting a touch-based input is referred to herein as a touch-based device. A computer monitor, a smartphone display screen, and a screen of a tablet computing device are all examples touch-based devices employing touch-sensitive screens.
A touch-sensitive screen allows a user to touch the screen at different locations, in different manners, or a combination thereof, to provide touch-based inputs. Generally, the touch-sensitive screen displays a GUI, which includes a set of graphical artifacts, with which the user can interact. The user provides a touch-based input by interacting with or using such an artifact.
A search engine is a software tool that presents a search interface on a user's device, and allows the user to specify a search term to search for content on a network. For example, many search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing are presently available for use on a variety of devices. (Google is a trademark of Google Inc. in the United States and other countries. Yahoo is a trademark of Yahoo Inc. in the United States and other countries. Bing is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries).
These and other search engines typically present a text box and a button on a GUI of a device, such as in a browser window. The user inputs a text string in the text box and provides an input at the button to perform a search for content related to the text string. The text string serves as the search term for the search engine.
When the user has partially input the search term, some search engines provide one or more suggestions to complete the search term in the text box. Such a suggestion is interchangeably referred to herein as “suggestion”, “suggested search term”, or “search term suggestion” or their respective plural forms.
The user can continue inputting the search term or select one of the suggested search terms. If the user selects one of the suggested search terms, the selected suggestion is loaded into the text box of the search engine interface, the button is regarded as activated, and the search for content related to the selected suggestion begins. Results of the search are later presented to the user on the GUI.
An application executing on the touch-based device accepts the inputs to perform certain operations. Often, the application presents a graphical display on the touch-sensitive screen to guide the user in performing the touch-based gesture.
One or more applications executing on the device may present one or more graphical artifacts on the GUI. For example, on touch-based devices, an application presents a virtual keyboard for the user to type text into a text input field, such as the text box of the search engine interface. The application simulates the keys found on a physical keyboard of a computer via graphical artifacts representing the shape, outline, and markings of the keys on the GUI. Each simulated key is a graphical artifact and has associated therewith an operation when the user interacts with the artifact.
For example, when the user clicks, taps, or touches the simulated key on the virtual keyboard, the application accepts the touch as a user-input, determines the location and/or the manner of the touch, correlates the location with a location of one of the button graphics, and performs the action corresponding to that button graphic which matches the location of the touch. If, for example, the user touches the letter key “A”, the application performs an action of entering the letter “A” in the text box relative to which the virtual keyboard is presented.